Mexico’s National Film Archives Workers Demand Dignity
“Our struggle is legitimate; we are not asking for privileges or luxuries, only better working conditions and job security. We also seek dialogue. This situation has become unsustainable.”
“Our struggle is legitimate; we are not asking for privileges or luxuries, only better working conditions and job security. We also seek dialogue. This situation has become unsustainable.”
The leadership of Mexico’s largest trade union federation has traditionally, and controversially, been a lifetime position.
Workers in Obregón City, Sonora affiliated with Frente Unido Section 27, supported by SINAGA.
Mexico’s 40 hour workweek will only come into effect in 2030, critics say the legislation opens the door to 12 hour workdays and reduced overtime pay.
Dozens of consulted workers agree on a pattern: overtime is not negotiated, it is ordered and refusing it usually results in veiled threats, shift changes, pay cuts or disguised firings.
Workers are demanding that platform companies implement real protocols against violence, with effective sanctions & a guarantee that “reporting will not bring us algorithmic punishments.”
Mexican workers with 30 years of seniority were told by the legal advisors of the US autoparts company that “there was no money to pay salaries or continue operations.”
Patrick James, founder of the US autoparts company, has been indicted on fraud charges, while 7 plants are closed and more than 4,000 Mexican workers are now jobless.
In the face of President Sheinbaum’s roundly criticized workweek reform proposal, considered excessively flexible & accommodating to capital & the danger to workers from USMCA renegotiations Mexican labour isn’t standing still.
The bloc announced it will intensify regional meetings & coordination efforts, towards consolidating a unified trade union front.